1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to holders/carriers and, more particularly, to such devices as can be selectively attached to various supporting structures. More specifically, the present invention relates to a holder that includes a rigid or semi-rigid base support, several non-elastic securement straps, and a support attachment mechanism.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of devices are disclosed in the prior art for carrying various types of articles suspended from "the person", such as a belt or waistband, or attached to an object within the user's immediate environment, such as the passenger compartment in cars and trucks. While tool belts have been used for years, the recent cultural popularity of carrying water bottles during the completion of one's daily tasks, and the development of cellular telephones has changed the traditional areas of product focus for these hands-free carriers.
With cellular telephone technology becoming a ubiquitous intrusion on both business and personal life, increasing numbers of users feel compelled to carry a cellular phone throughout their day. With many day-to-day tasks requiring the use of both hands, this requirement for immediate (and continual) access to a cellular phone can produce awkward balancing acts and other inconveniences.
It then becomes only a matter of time before the phone is accidentally dropped, damaging its sensitive electronics and fragile plastic parts. As a result, many times cellular telephone users will purchase a leather or vinyl carrying case, most of which include a rigid clip that can be used to attach the case and phone to a waistband or belt.
In addition to cellular phones, during the warmer months in many areas of the country it is common for people to carry along chilled beverages while traveling about during the day. To facilitate their transport, a number of different types of container designs have been made available to hold the beverage cans or drinking cups. Some of these holders are designed primarily to provide thermal insulation. Others include structures that permit the cup or beverage can to be suspended from a variety of different support platforms. For example, some beverage holders permit the beverage container to be suspended from a person's belt while others have specialized support structures that permit their engagement with, and suspension from, various structural features commonly found in the passenger compartments of most automobiles. Previous such containers include the plastic bottle carriers of Heather, U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,079, and Marsh, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,110.
While such beverage and cellular phone holders are more or less adequate for the particular purpose for which they have been designed, there are certain deficiencies inherent in such custom holders. Such holders are generally designed to receive an object having a specific dimensional configuration. Many such holders can only be utilized for retaining an object of certain, specific dimensions--and for no other objects. Seldom are holders suitable for more than one cellular phone model.
In an attempt to address this deficiency, the use of flexible straps with hook/loop fasteners is suggested by both Ventura, U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,927, and Moore, IV, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,483, for use with telephones and radios. In the context of beverage containers, they too come in a variety of different shapes, and an entirely separate family of holders is required for each of the various different beverage containers. In a manner similar to the previously-described multi-cellular holders, Williams, U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,991, suggests a strategy of providing a flexible insulated blanket to be used to wrap around and hold beverages containers. A separate rigid vertical support is provided to attach and suspend the beverage holder from a separate supporting structure.
Ideally, it would be desirable to provide a holder that is sufficiently adaptable as to be able to carry any number of different, multi-shaped objects, rather than require specialized carrying devices specific to either drinking containers, cellular phones or tools, for example.